Category Archives: Words to Ponder

Four years ago I had figured out I was gluten intolerant and had tried to avoid gluten. A recent routine endoscopy showed damaged celia and the biopsies confirmed I am a Celiac. The doctors were perplexed, the tissue samples confirmed Celiac, but my blood work was perfect. Four years of Gluten Free eating resulted in perfect blood work.

I had an appointment with a dietician. It was there I learned the dangers of being Celiac. She gave me a full folder of facts, details and information.

Celiac Disease is life-long. The celia never grow back but they do heal to the point they begin to processes nutrients. My tolerance is zero, so even cross contamination such as double dipping a knife in the peanut butter or jam to spread onto regular bread does cause me to react if I use a clean knife in the same peanut butter or jam jar to spread on a slice of GF bread. Each exposure takes a several days or weeks for the injures to the celia to heal enough to begin processing nutrients. During those days, I am freezing cold and exhausted.

Fresh Berries from the garden with real freshly whipped cream.*

One of the things in the folder of stuff is a list of all the names of foods that contain gluten. Many are simply different styles and types of wheat and different processes that end up gluten of a different name.

Beer is out, wine and distilled spirits even wheat based whiskeys are fine. The gluten molecules are too big to make it through the distillation process.

Wheat Free is not safe, Certified Gluten Free is. If in doubt do NOT eat it.

Butter Cream Frosted GF Banana Cake*

It goes on to say labels must be read every time foods are purchased. Manufacturers can change ingredients at any time. There is a huge list of additives that may or may not be GF. That list includes: modified food starch, starch, dextrin. If it does not say certified Gluten Free do not eat without calling the manufacturer to inquire about the root source of the starch. ie: Tapioca Starch and Corn Starch are safe, of course.

Eating Gluten Free as a way of losing weight, may be trendy. It won’t hurt you but it is not a disease and you can eat it anytime it is inconvenient to go hungry.

These two websites have tons of information. www.gluten.net which is a Gluten Intolerance organization in Auburn WA. Also www.celiac.org. Be wary of simple internet searches without verifying the source. The mayo clinic has info. Canada has a really good web site with lots of really good information.

Chocolate Studded Merengue Stacked with Whipped Cream*

Celiacs are supposed to carry a card in their wallet and even a health bracelet identifying Celiac. An emergency hospital stay, from a car accident for instance, complete with typical hospital fare of crackers and pudding could be the last nail in the coffin… fun, huh?

Gluten Free is healthy because it focuses on fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, lentils, fish and some lean meat. It is no more healthy than any other diet that includes sweets, cakes, pastas, sodas and other rich foods. I focus on healthy with great taste, but sometimes a special occasion calls for a special treat. Four of those are shown above.

* Learning to cook GF has been an adventure. Instead of trying to mimic the taste of “normal” food, we have learned to appreciate a new world of food we had not known. The bottom line is it has to taste great. It needs to be something guests will enjoy as well. Slowly I am developing special occasion recipes. Sometimes a great desert can be as simple as fresh berries topped with freshly whipped cream and a sprig of mint. Sometimes the occasion calls for something spectacular, even a multi layer cake. The deserts in the photos are my GF recipes and were served for special occasions. The merengue is naturally GF and without the chocolate and the whipped cream it is not too unhealthy.

Like this:

I did not write this, it came to me via email, but I am old enough to remember this clearly. The photos are my cell phone photos that I took today to go with with fun piece. I added personal comments in green throughout.

BEING GREEN…

This sign is required to be posted in our place of business. Did it use paper and ink plus gas for a young lady to drive to us, inspect our building, go through our trash can and hand us this poster? Did I mention we had been recycling for 13 years at work? She found a pop can in our trash and gave us a 15 minute lecture. Perhaps someone, it could even have been a truck driver from out of state, mistakenly thought the small recycling container would be the trash because the large container is should be the one for recycling. That could easily happen since at our homes we have small trash containers and huge recycling containers.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older

woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags

weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’

She was right — our generation didn’t have the ‘green thing’ in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the

store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and

refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really

were recycled.

But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for

numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use

of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure

that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not

defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on

the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then.

(There was almost no plastic, our bread came wrapped in waxed paper, which were opened up, cut in squares and used to wrap our sandwiches.And also to keep the irons gliding smoothly over the damp, starched fabric of our clothes)

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and

office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a

300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throwaway

kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning

up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our

early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters,

not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our

day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room.

And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?),

not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended

and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do

everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we

used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble

wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut

the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by

working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that

operate on electricity.

Paper recycling very light weight cardboard box container under my desk was brought in to replace the heavy-duty recycled cardboard box I had used for several years. It was had for me to grasp the concept of yet another box when the one I used had been working perfectly.

But she’s right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a

plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens

with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a

razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got

dull.

But we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to

school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service

in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before

the “green thing.” We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire

bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.

And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from

satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger

joint.

Our very own special recycling container which replaced the large recycle bins that served multiple businesses.

But isn’t it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks

were just because we didn’t have the “green thing” back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in

conservation from a smartass young person…

We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to piss

us off…especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can’t

make change without the cash register telling them how much.

The end !

There is so much truth to this, but I for one applaud having a cell phone, permanent press clothes out of the dryer and I love my computer. I do think we could make this a better world if we embraced the ways we each can recycle and keep junk out of the landfill and keep people slimmer and healthier with all the walking. However walking to work wouldn’t be good, unless I lived much closer.

So with thanks to an unknown writer and apologies for not being able to credit the right person, I hope you enjoy this and it brings back memories if you are one of the older among us. If you are one of the younger among us, perhaps you can learn something from history, or your elders and stop rolling your eyes, really it worked.

The following is from Darrell Scott whose beautiful daughter was killed at Columbine. This truly are words to take to heart, from a man who is being rational. Please do take the time to read this and re-blog it everywhere.

I copied this from Facebook. I will attempt to attach the url at the bottom of the page, so you can read it and see the photo of his beautiful daughter from the original source.

In Memory

Word’s from a Father who lost his daughter in COLUMBINE 12 YEARS AGO!!

Guess our national leaders didn’t expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

“Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.”

“The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain’s heart.”

“In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA – because I don’t believe that they are responsible for my daughter’s death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel’s murder I would be their strongest opponent.”

“I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy, it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.”

“Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation’s history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine’s tragedy occurs — politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.”

“As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA — I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone! My daughter’s death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!”

– Darrell Scott

Do what the media did not – – let the nation hear this man’s speech. Please send this out to everyone you can!!!